Is Ranked-choice voting right for Whatcom County?

First the definition – Ranked-choice voting is when voters choose their top three candidates for positions in order of preference. If a candidate wins a majority of votes, he or she is declared the winner. If no candidate wins a majority of the votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. All votes that rank the failed candidate as their first choice are eliminated and their second-preference votes are counted as their first-preference vote. A new tally is conducted to determine whether a candidate has won a majority of the vote. If no winner can be declared, this process is repeated until a candidate wins a majority of the votes. Got that?

Before we upend our electoral system consider the following cons of this voting method:

1. It’s confusing, overly complicated and will turn off voters.

Voting for only one candidate is straightforward. Voting for the same position three or more times and then transferring the votes to lesser choices complicates the process. It deprives voters of a genuinely informed choice.

2. Ranked-choice disenfranchises voters because ballots no longer offer the top two finalists and candidates with marginal support can win.

The recent U.S. Congressional election in Alaska is prime example. The candidate with the most votes (but not a majority) did not win. Subsequent ranking manufactured a faux majority for the eventual winner.

3. Ranked-choice destroys clarity of political debate and forces voters to cast ballots in hypothetical future runoff elections.

Elections can drag on for days or weeks if vote tallies have to go multiple rounds. Alaska was not able to declare a winner for their Congressional special election until 15 days after election day.

4. Voters will be challenged with the extensive research of candidates before ranking them in order of preference.

Ranked-choice voting can lead to ballot exhaustion. Many voters will only cast a vote for their top choice and won’t rank anyone else.

5. Ranked-choice voting presents opportunities to rig elections.

Ranked-choice is a scheme that allows some voters to falsify their preferences to manipulate the election.

Examples: 2010 mayor’s race in Oakland, California; 2018 Congressional District in Maine; 2010 Australia election

6. It will require expensive new voting machines to count and reallocate votes for each candidate

7. Ranked-choice voting would be a huge overhaul of our electoral system and there is only one political party that is pushing for it. Why?

8. A fundamental change of our electoral system should only be considered with bipartisan agreement and consensus.

Ranked-choice voting does not meet that standard.

9. Easy to vote, hard to cheat should be the goal of all parties.

We are convinced, however, that the adoption of ranked-choice voting would make voting more complicated, less transparent, and, ultimately, less democratic.

-Luanne Van Werven and John Ramsey

Luanne is a resident of Lynden and John resides in Blaine. Both are former Chairs of the Whatcom County Republican Party.